WORLD DATELINES

Compiled from Examiner wire reports

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, March 19, 1997

China proposes deal

to free dissident Beijing In an effort to improve ties with Washington, Chinese authorities have proposed that jailed dissident Wang Dan be paroled and sent abroad, a Hong Kong newspaper reported Wednesday.

The Sing Tao Daily, quoting an unidentified source close to Wang's family and an unidentified official, said authorities had asked Wang whether if he would be willing to leave China immediately after being released on medical parole.

Wang, serving an 11-year jail sentence for subversion, said he would accept the proposal on condition that his mother go with him, the Chinese-language newspaper said.

But the report did not actually say that authorities had decided to release Wang.

Wang, 27, has prostate trouble and has complained of stomach pains and a sore throat. He previously has said he did not want to leave China.

Jordanian cabinet,

prime minister quit Amman, Jordan The prime minister and his cabinet have resigned and King Hussein asked a close confidant and supporter of peace with Israel to form a new government, officials in Prime Minister Abdul-Karim Kabariti's office said Wednesday.

They said Abdul-Salam Majali, a former prime minister who negotiated and later signed Jordan's 1994 peace treaty with Israel, will replace Kabariti, whose 30-member cabinet resigned to King Hussein Tuesday night.

North Korean leader

warns of famine riots Seoul North Korean leader Kim Jong Il warned party officials during a recent secret meeting that worsening food shortages could set off rioting in the tightly controlled country, a South Korean newspaper reported Wednesday.

The Chosun Ilbo said it had obtained a full text of the speech delivered by the North Korean leader in Pyongyang Dec. 7.

The speech, as reported by the newspaper, focused on the communist country's condition of near famine. Kim was quoted as saying that even the North's military was not getting enough food.

Man hid dead father

to collect pension Tokyo A man who hid his dead father's body in their apartment for 2-1/4 years so he could collect his pension checks has been charged with fraud, a police spokesman said on Wednesday.

Masao Yanagisawa, 38, who police said admitted hiding the body of his father, Masakatsu, after he died from an illness at the age of 60 in July 1994, also hid the death from his sister and brother, who had been supporting the two men.